Immune inductor and effector sites in the upper airways of cattle and influence of site of antigen expression on induction of mucosal immunity

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This project aims to exploit recent advances in the manipulation of the genome of negative-stranded viruses, culture techniques for well-differentiated, bovine airway epithelial cells and characterisation of bovine dendritic cells to: (i). identify the anatomic location and functional potential of bovine nasopharyngeal immune inductor and effector sites; (ii) identify antigen-presenting cells in bovine upper airway tissues; (iii) determine if targeting foreign antigens to different sites within polarised airway epithelial cells influences the induction of mucosal immunity. The information generated from this project will be critical in establishing the value of attenuated virus vectors expressing foreign antigens for the induction of mucosal immunity in cattle, the identify of antigen-presenting cells in the upper airways of cattle and the type of construct most appropriate for stimulating mucosal immunity. This will allow a more targeted approach to the development of intranasal vaccines that will be of broad relevance for a variety of bovine pathogens.

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